Darren Adam Heitner, Esq. is the Founder of HEITNER LEGAL, Founder/CEO of Dynasty Dealings, LLC, Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University Bloomington, Co-Founder of Collegiate Sports Advisors (CSA) and Founder/Chief Editor of Sports Agent Blog, a leading niche industry publication. He is an attorney licensed to practice on the state and federal level, and focuses on sports, entertainment, and intellectual property litigation and transactional work.
Darren is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know (published by the American Bar Association), Contributing Writer of An Athlete’s Guide to Agents, 5th Edition, and has authored many sports, entertainment and intellectual property-related Law Journal articles.
Darren has a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the same institution.

The Inevitable Death Of NBA's One-And-Done Rule

Unsurprisingly the National Basketball Association and the NBA Players Association (NBPA) are completely aligned on the amount of discipline due to current Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Such was revealed at the 2014 Sports Lawyers Association conference that concluded on May 17 in Chicago, Illinois. The annual gathering of sports lawyers included representatives from all major domestic sports leagues and teams, influential private lawyers and sports law professors. What came as more of a surprise was learning how in-tune the NBA and NBPA are on the issue of eradicating the one-and-done rule. It appears that it will not be long before a more restrictive provision is put in place.

Basketball players who wish to perform in the NBA must be at least nineteen-years-old and one year removed from high school. Otherwise, those players are not eligible to enter their names into the annual NBA Draft. This is known as the NBA’s one-and-done rule, which was first established with the 2006 NBA Draft and remains in place today.

It is no secret that the NBA wishes to end the one-and-done rule and replace it with a version that requires basketball players to be at least two years removed from high school before entering the NBA Draft.

At the Sports Lawyers Association conference, Dan Rube, NBA Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel said that ending the one-and-done rule would allow teams better decisions with draft pics and better analysis of talent. He added that the NBA believes getting rid of the one-and-done rule is in the interest of both the NBA and the NBPA.

Ron Klempner, Acting Executive Director of NBA Players Association, said the death of the one-and-done rule is a “strong possibility.” He added that it would “have to work both ways” in order for a more restrictive rule to be put in place. Klempner suggested that the NBA, NBPA and NCAA come up with system to put one-and-done aside. Interestingly, NCAA president Mark Emmert recently said, “this is enshrined in the labor agreement between the NBA and the NBA players, and not a rule that we have control over.” The one-and-done rule will be an element in the next round of collective bargaining negotiations between the league and the players association. While Emmert will not have a seat at the negotiation table, at least Klempner has vocalized his support of having the NCAA be involved in creating a new system concerning NBA Draft eligibility.

In April, ESPN president John Skipper also ripped the one-and-done rule. ”I have no quarrel with kids wanting to go play basketball, [but] I think they should have to stay a couple or three years,” said Skipper. ”I don’t know anybody who does [like it], There’s one small set of people who are against that. Those are agents, representatives for NBA players.”

Based on Rube’s and Klempner’s commentary at the Sports Lawyers Association conference, it appears Skipper and others will eventually get their way.

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